The Secret History Of ECW | Wrestling Timelines

October 16, 1995 - ECW Distilled

If there’s a week that distills the essence of Extreme Championship Wrestling, it’s this.

As per the October 16 Wrestling Observer Newsletter, New Jack is fired, briefly, when he thought Dances With Dudley was working too stiff with him. Jack attacks him and splits his head open with a night stick backstage. Poor Mikey Whipwrecks gets caught up in the fray and suffers a sizeable gash in the resulting melee. New Jack, and this doesn’t harm his aura one bit, challenges half of the locker room to a fight then and there. This, obviously, is appalling conduct - but ECW’s dangerous outlaw mythology is reinforced.

On the same show, the best match held all year stateside happens: Rey Mysterio Vs. Psicosis. The space in the ECW arena is limited - the ringside fans are basically glued to the ring skirt - but this adds a frightening element to the electrifying, state-of-the-art action held at a time when this new style is barely fathomable to a U.S. audience. Every wild dive and brain-melting high spot careens into what becomes debris upon impact. The risk is doubled in this early demo of a sound few have ever heard.

Meanwhile, the WWF is really not great, so much so that, for the first and only time, Vince McMahon has relinquished creative control over to episodic wrestling pioneer and Mid-South Wrestling mastermind Bill Watts. His stint only lasts a matter of weeks, but the decision underscores Vince’s pure desperation during a horrendous time for his business.

ECW isn’t just a great alternative: it is a dream for the hardcore wrestling fan who subsists on gossip and futuristic action. ECW is endlessly great and endlessly fascinating.